Category 20 Pounds

It’s the day before the wedding and this morning the bathroom scale showed an even 170.0 pounds! Which means I made the goal. With no margin to spare, but I made it. Because there is a lot to do with friends and family in town, this will be the shortest entry ever. Just wanted to share the good news.

With one more week to go to the big day, the focus has shifted dramatically away from planning to doing. Today, we are picking up the first out of town guest and they’ll keep arriving through the week. This is shaping up to be a great event. At the same time, we are still busy spinning through our lives while moving rapidly towards the 25th.

No, I have not attempted any miracle diets (yet), though salads have taken a more prominent role in my diet and there are fewer snacks in my day. Exercise is still going strong. In other words, I haven’t given up on the goal. Four pounds are left and I have two weeks left to go. That’s still in the realm of possibility and at the same time a tall order. With the exception of the first week I started the diet, I’ve never lost that much weight in two weeks. Then again, these are unusual times and motivation is running high.

Did you miss me? Well, I missed last week’s column. Jeff commented a few days ago with a sharp “Aha”, when he looked at the date of the latest entry. Busted. Do I have an excuse? Not really, though many good reasons. Between extra work, a busy social schedule, and the last urgent wedding preparations, the column simply got pushed out. Together with a good part of my diet, though we do have the seating chart worked out and we are indeed all (I hope?) GO for the big day.

So I dropped a footstool. Well, not the way you might think. Relax. No innocent furniture was hurt in the research for this article. But since February I lost the weight of the footstool that lives in our bedroom. This morning I hoisted it (right word, the piece is heavy) on my shoulders and stepped, thus burdened on the bathroom scale. Pleasantly, the scale registered one pound less than it did with me alone as recently as February. The comfy piece designed by brothers Charles & Ray Eames weights in at 19.5 pounds. Today, I came in at 20.5 pounds less than on February 10.

Somehow I’m having a hard time getting going with the column this week. I tell myself that it’s because I’m a little tired. It’s been a big week with lots of new experiences and there is the added pressure of the approaching deadline. My first choice would be to just avoid this. Can I just get a quart of ice cream and curl up on the sofa? Or how about those Entenmann’s sheet cakes? Last week I told Jeff that one of them used to replace a lonely dinner. One was my limit only because I didn’t want to face the cashier with two cakes and a half-gallon of milk in tow.

With seven weeks left to go until the big day and seven pounds left on the bathroom scale, serious measures are called for this week. Yes, there has been a lot of progress but I’m not ready yet to say: “Close enough.” I could settle for 175 and, with some justification, claim that it was a 20-pound drop. Compared to the (documented) number in February, that’s true. However, I did set out for a different goal. Back in April I said I would get to 170 by October 25 and the goal still stands.

Sometimes, a new discovery takes extra data and a new interpretation. This week, the two came together on my weight loss program. Since I got serious about losing weight back in April, there have been periods of steady decline in weight, well explained by my more or less rigorous adherence to my eating plan. In the middle of these good periods, however, a few times for no apparent reason my weight shot up.

Coming around the last turn, the goal is in sight. Not sure yet whether it will be an up-hill battle all the way to the finish or a gentle cruise toward the cheering crowds. Perhaps it’s just a break along the way and the goal is really much further off than I think. In any case, I’ve arrived in the 170’s and the 180-pound mark has fallen.

Last week I asked for a one-time waiver from the no-dessert and no-alcohol promise. Well, it was a grand party and sure worth the investment. For the week, I managed to stay pretty much at the weight I was.